Natalie Portman

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q37876: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: Léon: The Professional (1994); Heat (1995); Beautiful Girls (1996); Garden State (2004); Black Swan (2010); Thor (2011); Thor: The Dark World (2013); The Death and Life of John F. Donovan (2018); May December (2023); Star Wars prequels.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Thief (1981): 3 lines

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Heat (1995), which they acted in: Thief ⇒ Heat (the maker said so: the Siegel piece, Caan telling Pacino). Caan said scenes cut from Thief went to Heat.
    “All the scenes that weren't used in our picture came over to you guys.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Thief’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:15:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft) · through Heat (1995), which they acted in: Thief ⇒ Heat (the host's read). The diner scene's wide shot echoes Heat's, which never shows both guys.
    “Wide shot, some heat DNA, although in heat, they don't have, you never see the 2 guys”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Thief’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:36:13 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (lineage) · through Heat (1995), which they acted in: Thief ⇒ Heat (the host's read). Thief is the notebook sketch for Mann's later work, with Heat sharing DNA.
    “the building blocks for what you wind up seeing in heat and collateral and Miami Vice in so many of his films to come.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Thief’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:02:54 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

The Avengers (2012): 2 lines

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Thor: The Dark World (2013), which they acted in: The Avengers ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read). The Dark World is the correction to Joss Whedon cracking Loki: he becomes co-lead, Thor 1A to Loki 1B.
    “This is the correction to Joss Whedon cracking Loki, where they're like, we get it now.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:20:47 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage) · through Thor: The Dark World (2013), which they acted in: The Avengers ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read). Avengers ends with the team scattering, which is why the Phase 2 sequels can stand alone.
    “And also, Joss Wheaton's like master stroke at the end of Avengers is like, we're not a team.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:30:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Almost Famous (2000): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Garden State (2004), which they acted in: Almost Famous ⇒ Garden State (the host's read). Almost Famous, more than Vanilla Sky, gave birth to the Garden State style.
    “Well, probably almost famous gave birth to garden state more than this did.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Vanilla Sky with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:18:36 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Doctor Who (2023): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Thor: The Dark World (2013), which they acted in: Doctor Who ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read). Marvel in general is indebted to Doctor Who's tone of lightness, comedy, hope and teamwork, especially the Russell T Davies era.
    “I think Marvel in general is very kind of indebted to Doctor Who with the same tone of like lightness and comedy and hope and team teamwork.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 2:02:06 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Game of Thrones (2011): 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through Thor: The Dark World (2013), which they acted in: Game of Thrones ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read). The film aims for a grounded, muddy fantasy in the Game of Thrones manner, away from Branagh's version.
    “We want to make a more grounded fantasy away from the bran off.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:11:39 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

J. Michael Straczynski: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Thor (2011), which they acted in: J. Michael Straczynski ⇒ Thor (the host's read). The film borrows heavily from Straczynski's celebrated Thor run, including Thor spending time in the Midwest.
    “the celebrated Thor arc was J. Michael Stratinsky, which is this is borrowing from heavily.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 0:08:28 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Masters of the Universe (1987): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Thor (2011), which they acted in: Masters of the Universe ⇒ Thor (the host's read). Thor is described as essentially a remake of the live-action Masters of the Universe.
    “It's mostly just a remake of the live action masters of the universe movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 0:03:54 · Griffin Newman (0.65 sure it was them)

Stan Lee: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Thor (2011), which they acted in: Stan Lee ⇒ Thor (the host's read). The Donald Blake identity came from Stan Lee's 60s devotion to the secret-identity trope; the movie keeps it only as a fake ID gag.
    “in the 60s, Stanley was a little slavishly devoted to like the classic superhero comic trope, so you needed a secret identity”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 0:08:08 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

The Big Chill (1983): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Beautiful Girls (1996), which they acted in: The Big Chill ⇒ Beautiful Girls (the host's read). Named among the later films that tried and failed to be the Big Chill for a new generation, along with About Alex.
    “I remember beautiful girls tried in the mid 90s and there's a movie called About Alex and the mid 2010s.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Big Chill’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:04:50 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Ambulance (2022): 1 line

  1. lineage (homage) · through Heat (1995), which they acted in: Heat ⇒ Ambulance (the host's read). Chris says the first half of Ambulance is Michael Bay trying to make Heat, before the second half becomes a great chase movie.
    “The 1st half of this movie is basically like Michael Bay being like, I want to make heat.”
    The Big Picture · The 2022 Movie Draft · 1:06:53 · Chris Ryan (0.80 sure it was them)

Michael Mann: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Heat (1995), which they acted in: Heat ⇒ Michael Mann (the maker said so: Mann publicly talking about it). Mann has said he wants to adapt his Heat novel as a sequel and prequel to Heat.
    “he's been publicly talking about his desire to find a way to adapt his novel of heat to the sequel and prequel to heat.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ferrari’ and Top Five Michael Mann Movies · 0:08:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (13) everyone in acting

Other (7) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (career): Natalie Portman → Garden State. A riff on Garden State turns into proposing Ben replace Zach Braff over the whole film as a Kuleshov-effect experiment.
    “Can we just shoot Ben in front of a green screen and like superimpose him over Zach Raff and keep the rest of the movie the same?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 0:54:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

industry (2)

  1. industry (industry): Natalie Portman → Black Swan. Thor landed four to five months after Black Swan, so Portman's Oscar gave the film star power Marvel was lucky to get.
    “This comes out like 4 months after Black Swan, 5 months.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 0:32:01 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. industry (industry): Thor → Natalie Portman. Portman had director approval and a multi-film contract but did not want to do more, so Marvel stopped forcing her.
    “she got director approval over these movies.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 1:28:08 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

people (1)

  1. people (casting): Natalie Portman → Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Portman was announced by Disney to voice Nausicaä and is cited as a woman culture has dumped its expectations on.
    “Natalie Portman, who almost played Nausicaa, was announced by Disney to play Nausicaa”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind with Lulu Wang · 0:47:31 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

verdict (1)

  1. verdict (verdict): Heat → Natalie Portman. Natalie Portman in Heat is teased as the overacting award winner.
    “a young Natalie Portman getting the overacting award”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ferrari’ and Top Five Michael Mann Movies · 0:40:37 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)

what-if (3)

  1. what-if (what-if): Natalie Portman → Léon: The Professional. Cast what-if: Portman turned down Wendy, which would have made a trifecta with Professional and Beautiful Girls.
    “completing the trifecta of sexualizing Natalie Portman characters before she's turned 18”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:58:22 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. what-if (what-if): Christina Ricci → Natalie Portman. Ricci's darker, more withering energy suits Wendy better than Portman would have.
    “Christina Ricci just has like a slightly darker energy and is a little bit more withering.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:58:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. what-if (what-if): Thor: The Dark World → Natalie Portman. Portman had approval over director and script; the Jenkins firing is why she was done with these movies.
    “She didn't have anything on the Alan Taylor thing, and she was like, I'm done with these.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:15:05 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

None.